Track drilling machine



Jan. 19, 1932. E. A. EvER fi' 1,841,798

TRACK DRILLING MACHINE Filed Aug. 31, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 l fh A IN VENTOR. l 'fw a ATTORNEY.

1932. E. A. EVERETT 1,8413% TRACK DRILLING MACHINE Filed Aug. 51, 1928 4 Sheets-$heet 2 I N VEN TOR.

Jan. 19, 1932. E. A. EVERETT TRACK DRILLING MACHINE v Filed Aug. 31, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 zzi mgy Jan. 19, 1932. 5 EVERETT 1,841,798

TRACK DRILLING MACHINE Filed Aug. 51, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 IN VEN TOR.

Patented Jan. 19, 1932 I UNITED v STATES PATENT OFFICE EDWARD A. EVERETT, OF LONG- ISLAND CITY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO NANDE CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK, N. 'Y., A CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK TRACK DRILLING Macrame Application filed August 31, 1928. Serial No. 303,348.

This invention relates to track drilling machines of the type used for drilling railway track, as disclosed in U. S. Patent 1,421,194, issued to me on June 27, 1922. The machine disclosed in this patent is intended primarily for drilling the web of the rail for the attach ment of electrical bonds to the rail joints. The present invention is directed to adapting a machine of this type for drilling the ball or head of the rail for securing bonds of a particular type to the rail joints. In the earlier machine the hole was drilled through the Web of the rail, whereas in the present machine the hole must be accurately drilled to a predetermined depth in the rail head and must be drilled a fixed distance from the end of the rail. For this purpose the drill spindle is elevated to align with the ball of the rail, a. depth gage is associated with the spindle to insure the proper depth of drilling in the rail head, an adjustable index is provided for quickly and accurately locating the position of the drilling from the rail ends, a vertically adjustable clamp is provided for clamping the machine to the rail during the drilling operations and the height of the drill spindle relative to the rail head is adjusted by arms pivoted in the frame carrying the supportingrollers. These features particularly adapt this machine for drilling track for bonding purposes, but may be applied to drill presses of various types, particularly of the portable variety and are not to be regarded as confined to track drilling machines.

Other novel features of this invention will appear from the following specification and the accompanying drawings, in which;

Fig. lfis a side elevation transverse of the rail showing the lower part of a track drilling machine embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation in line with the rail showing the lower part of one form of my invention; I

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the frame of the machine showing the relation of the drill and indexing device to'the rail;

Fig. at is a partly sectional View of the depth gage applied to the drill spindle;

7 showing the bracket with the rail clamping mechanism;

. Fig. 9 is an elevation of the frame, transverse of the rail, showing the modified cla1nping arrangement;

Fig. 10 is a. cross section of the rail head with one type of bonding plug in place. lVhere track circuits are used on electric railways and n railway signaling, it is common practice to bond the rail joints with a conducting bond which is attached to the rail by a taper pin in a drilled hole. The present invention is directed to power operated machines for drilling the rail for bonding purposes and particularly for drilling the ball of the rail close to the rail ends for attaching short flexible bonds. These bonds are socured to the rail by a drift pin which must be driven to a predetermined depth in the hole inorder to secure a tight fit; hence accurate drilling in location and depth is necessary for satisfactory work, this invention is designed to secure work of this class.

In the drawings, .11 is a track rail which is to be drilled and which supports the machine. 12 and 13 are flanged rollers supporting the frame 16 through the arms 14 which are ro tatably mounted in frame 16 at 15. Pads are provided on the frame at 17 for supporting the operating motor 17a from which power is supplied to operate the machine as in the patent above referred to but not shown in the drawings.

A gear box is provided at 18 which supports the upper frame 19 and which is asso ciated with the housing 20 of the spindle 21. U

A foot is provided at 22, pivotally connected at 23 to the housing and supporting the outer end of the frame in horizontal relation to the rail.

The drill 36 is fed to the work by the hand lever 28 pivoted at 27 to the frame 19 and by link 25 is pivotally connected with the spindle 21 through the pivot 25a which is free to slide in slot 24 as the spindle is moved towards the work.

V The rail head is drilled as indicated at 29, Fig. 9, and to insure proper depth a depth gage is provided as best shown in Fig. 4. The bracket 31 is ri idly secured to the frame of the machine and supports the stem 32 in parallel relation with the spindle. The spindle 21 is provided with a chuck 35 for securing the drill 36 and with an enlargement at 34 for receiving the inner member 37 of the ball hearing which abuts on the collar 33. A housing 39 is mounted on the outer member of the ball bearing 38 and has an eye at 41 which slidably engages the stem 32 and there by prevents the housing from rotating while the spindle is free to rotate on the ball bearing and to carry the housing longitudinally therewith. The housing is provided with a cover 40 and has an arm integral therewith at 42, which, through the clamp 43 and thumb nut 44 engages the gage pin 45 in parallel relation to the drill. This pin is pre erably adjusted by a gage block as shown which is inserted on the drill and the pin 45 is adjusted by the screw until the drill seats in the gage block when it is clamped in place by 44. By this arrangement the gage pin is adjusted with relation to the point of the drill and it does not rotate about the drill.

This machine is portable, being moved along the track on the rollers 12 and 13 and being substantially balanced on the rail as disclosed in the patent referred to. The rails are drilled for bonding pur oscs close to their ends and in order to quick y position the drill with relation to the rail end as the machine moves along the track an index is provided by means of which the drilling position is located from the rail ends. This device is adjustably secured on the centre line of the frame and is adaptable to rail heads of various sizes. The bracket 51, Fig. 2, issecured to the frame 16 by the bolt 53 and is vertically slidable between the guides 52. The index bracket 55, Fig. 5, is clamped to bracket 51 by bolt 54 and projects over the rail head, carrying the shaft 56a Fig. 7 to which the index member 56 is clamped as shown. The index member 56 is provided with indices in the form of fingers 58 and 59 which are located an equal distance from the centre line of the machine and of the drill.

In operation, an index finger 58, Fig. 3, is placed at the rail joint 57 and this automatically locates the drill in the correct position for drilling one of the rails. By placing the finger 59 at the rail joint the drill is correctly positioned for drilling the other rail. This differs from the indexing arrangement shown in my Patent 1,674,858 issued June 26, 1928, as the indexing is obtained from the rail end and the index fingers are supported on a vertically adjustable bracket on the centre line of the machine.

The height of the machine is adjusted to various sizes of rail heads by the arms 14 which rotate in the frame 16 and are locked in position by the set screws 14a, Fig; 6. Inorder to aid in adjusting each of t ese arms to the same angular position an indexing arrangement is provided at 15a in which a fixed index point on the frame registers with the graduated marks on 15 so that each arm ma be adjusted to the same extent and the mac ine maintained parallel on the rail.

The machine being free to roll along the rail it is desirable to clamp it to the rail during drilling operations. For this purpose a three point clamp is used. This comprises a stud on the centre line of the machine di rectly opposite the drill engaging the rail head and two studs spaced from the centre line which are brought into engagement with the opposite side of the rail head by foot pressure. In practice the machine pivots about the centrally located stud as the other studs are brou ht into engagement with the rail head an the drill is thereby positioned at right angles to the rail.

One form of clamp is shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The stud 60 is adjnstably supported by the bracket 51 and engages the rail opposite the drill. Studs 64 engage the opposite side of the rail in spaced relation. These studs are threaded into the blocks 63 which turn integral with the shaft 61 journaled in the In 62. A lever, not shown, is used to rotate shaft 61 and thereby bring the studs 64 into engagement with the rail and the drill into ali nment in the drilling position.

preferred form of rail clamp is shown in Figs. 7, 8 and 9. In this arrangement a clamping bracket is adjustably secured to the frame and carries the mechanism for operating the clamps. The clamping bracket 73 has an extension 51a which is clamped by bolt 53 to frame 16 and whose height may be regulated by screw 71 engaging 51a at 72, Fig. 9. This bracket is ribbed at 74 and has inwardly turned ends 75, Fig. 7 which terminate 1n eye bearings for shaft 76. These ends also have upwardly turned jaws 88 and 89 which are provided with the set screws 91 and 92 to engage the web of the frame 16 at 90. This clamps the bracket to the frame after it has been adjusted and reinforces it at the point of maximum strain.

The shaft 76 carries the crank 7 7 which, by pin 79, link 78 and pin 80 connects with the depending hanger 81 pivoted to the frame at 82 and terminating in a boss 83 in which the stud 84 is adjusted. It will be noted from Fig. 7 that the frame is symmetrical about the centre line and the clamping bracket has similar parts on each side of the centre line. As the lever 86 is depressed by foot pressure, the shaft 7 6 is rotated through connection 85 and the hangers 81 are moved towards the rail to bring the studs 8 1-84 into engagement with the rail head. It will be observed that bracket 73 adjusts the height of the stud 60, the shaft 76 of the clamping mechanism and the index fingers 5859.

By removing the clamping bracket 7 3 and suitably adjusting the foot 22 and the arms let the frame may be lowered to position the drill for drilling the web of the rail. The bracket 73 is thus an attachment that adapts machines for drilling the web so that they can be used for drilling the head of the rail.

It will be observed that the detachable part 737& supports the stud 60 and the shaft 7 6 with its cranks which are linked to the depending or lower end of 81. In practice this bracket is applied to an existing machine which cannot be strengthened; the bracket therefore must be constructed to take the greater part of the thrust of the clamp. This is secured by providing the bearing of the shaft 76 in the bracket and by connecting the links 78 with the lower end of the hang ers 81, that is, close to the clamping stud. It will be noted from Fig. 9 that very little of the strain of the clamp is transmitted to the frame member 16 and this is a compression strain. Also the strain is considerably relieved from the upper part of link 81. This enables these parts to be made of lighter stock which is of importance in a portable machine.

One style of bonding pin for bonding rail heads is shown in Fig. 10. The flexible bond terminates in the head 91 of taper pin 92. This pin is drilled from the end at 93 and is fitted with the taper pin 94 before it is inserted in the hole. As the pin is driven into the rail head the pin 94 expands its inner end and insures a tight fit.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

In a machine for drilling track rails, the combination of a frame mounted upon rollers to roll upon the track, a drilling mechanism embodied in said frame, a bracket with a vertical slot therein, means for clamping said bracket to said frame through said slot, a fixed clamping stud engaging the head of the rail secured in said bracket, a rotating shaft journaled in said bracket having spaced cranks thereon, hangers pivoted to said frame carrying a pair of spaced clamping studs engaging the head of the rail to oppose said first named stud, links extending across the rail and connecting in tension the depending end of said hangers with said cranks and a lever for rotating said shaft.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

EDWARD A. EVERETT. 

